Rage Against the Regime: The Revolutionary Power of Metal Music

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BBC Radio 4 - Rage Against the Regime: The Revolutionary Power of Metal Music

Dannii Leivers explores how metal musicians perform, and rebel, under oppressive regimes.

Sometimes music is a matter of life and death. Dannii Leivers explores how metal musicians have existed under oppressive regimes in the Middle East over the last two decades.

Metal, according to a recent Spotify poll, is the most downloaded genre of music in the world. It’s a highly complex, intellectual form of music, intertwined with politics since its inception with Black Sabbath’s anti-war anthem ‘War Pigs’

This music has a special kind of power—a sonic force that inspires courage and rebellion, spurring people to speak truth to power. It can make regimes fear and attack those who use it, and can connect people across continents, even when powerful forces seek to keep entire populations and their cultures isolated and silent.

In "Rage Against the Regime: The Revolutionary Power of Metal Music," metal journalist Dannii Leivers explores the stories of bands who have faced repression in various Middle Eastern countries over the past two decades and highlights the experiences of three important metal artists

Nikan Khosravi, lead singer of Confess who was, along with his bandmates, imprisoned by the Iranian authorities for blasphemy and spreading anti-government sentiment.

Cherine Amr, who was labeled a satanist by members of the Muslim Brotherhood after the 2011 Revolution in Egypt, partly because those in power couldn’t understand why a woman would scream like she did during shows.

And Abed Hathout, co-founder of the Palestinian band Khalas — thought to be the first metal band to sing in Arabic — who opened a window into Palestinian culture and resisted the narrative of perpetual hate in the region by touring with an Israeli band across Europe.

Join us as we dive into the revolutionary power of metal music and uncover the stories of those who dare to rage against the regime.

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